Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,301,964 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 62,395 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.49% of Leonardo DRS worth $42,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS during the third quarter worth about $344,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 4.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 291,871 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,236,000 after purchasing an additional 13,613 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS during the third quarter worth approximately $1,651,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS during the third quarter worth $311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on DRS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.83.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leonardo DRS news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total value of $1,586,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 189,937 shares in the company, valued at $6,695,279.25. The trade was a 19.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total transaction of $112,786.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 137,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,387,564.68. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 144,360 shares of company stock worth $4,849,137. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DRS traded down $0.78 during trading on Thursday, reaching $33.48. The company had a trading volume of 169,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 653,747. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.88 and a twelve month high of $37.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 42.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Leonardo DRS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.